America Facts

While their exact origins are debated, fortune cookies were invented in America, with one prominent claim attributing their popularization to David Jung in Los Angeles around 1918, who served them with inspirational messages.

In the 1990s, about 9 out of 10 American children visited a McDonald's restaurant at least once per month.

91% of Americans eat turkey on Thanksgiving.

Potato chips are the number one selling snack in the United States, with Americans consuming over 1.5 billion pounds annually.

The average American eats nearly one ton (about 2,000 pounds) of food every year.

Each year, around 14,000 to 24,000 Americans are bitten by rats, with most incidents occurring in urban areas and low-income neighborhoods.

Approximately 145 million Valentine's Day cards are exchanged in the United States alone each year, making it the second-largest card-sending holiday after Christmas.

The Statue of Liberty was a gift of friendship resulting from the diplomatic relationship between the United States and France.

About 25% of Africa remains wilderness, compared to roughly 27% of North America—making them surprisingly similar despite very different development histories.

The United States has paved enough roads to circle the Earth over 150 times.

The average American child will eat 1,500 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches by the time they graduate from high school.

No president of the United States was an only child for his parents.

More than 50% of Americans fall asleep on their sides.

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, approximately 83% of Americans will experience an attempted or completed crime at some point in their lifetime, with about 52% becoming victims of violent crime more than once.

Approximately 4 to 5% of the U.S. population has one or more clinically significant phobias in a given year. Specific phobias occur in people of all ages. The average age of onset for social phobia is between 15 and 20 years of age, although it can often begin in childhood.

Q is the only letter in the alphabet that does not appear in the name of any of the United States!

More Americans have died in car accidents than have died in all the wars ever fought by the United States.

In the US, there are quite a few cities called Gaylord.

In 1997, a survey reported that 12% of Americans think that Joan of Arc was Noah's wife.

In the U.S., about 1% of lottery prizes go unclaimed each year - totaling over $2 billion in forgotten winnings!

About 20-29% of American pet owners dress their pets in Halloween costumes, making it a multi-billion dollar industry.

In 2013, a homeless man from Oregon robbed a bank for $1, then casually sat down and waited for police to arrest him so he could receive healthcare in prison.

About 65% of Americans prefer to celebrate New Year's Eve at home or in small gatherings of fewer than 20 people rather than attending large parties.

Every second, Americans collectively eat one hundred pounds of chocolate, totaling approximately 2.8 billion pounds annually.